How is Spice Paprika produced?

The whole process of  growing  Szeged Spice paprika Starts off with planting and cultivation and is a legthy painstaking process  that culminates in  the highest quality spice  paprika powder.  Every phase of production from planting to packing  takes place  in  the Szeged region.

Cultivation and processing of spice Paprika involves the following steps:
-    Soil preperation, 
-    Then comes cultivation, transplanting seedlings or sowing directly into the soil 
-    Cultivating of rows and irrigation 
-    Harvesting
-    Post harvest ripening
-    Careful drying 
-    Drying and storage takes place in a cool, dry place
 -   At  this stage the paprika will be crushed
-   Our Paprika now  goes for packing

The first step in growing peppers is to carefully chose and prepare the site. The planning  process  involves  many important  elements  not least taking into  consideration the best varieties to grow for the  best possible yields also ,planting at the right time and not least choosing the most effective  methods of producing Paprika in order to get  the desired results.  

Irespective of the methods  chosen and  soil preperation  this is followed by sowing seeds directly into the soil.or transplanting seedlings.   In the case of  paprika seedlings they are cultivated from  the end of  Feburary to  the begining of  April, and  transplanting  takes place in May either  by hand or by machine:  At this point the  seedlings are  transplanted into final positions and spacings. 

Irrigation water requirement is carried out in line with the  quantity of water which needs to be applied with the irrigation system at any given time and therefore  is adjusted accordingly.  
During the cultivation period  irrigation  is carried out in line with the requirements of each farm. The  most common and efficient methods of watering plants is usually by flood irrigation,, sprinklers or drip irrigation. During   the cultivation period in order to ensure  optimum fruit development and yield.both  hand and mechanical cultivation of rows is carried out. Peppers grown outdoors begin to reach muturity by the end of August and continue to ripen until early September

Since  harvesting  depends very much  on the amount of  ripened fruit that can be observed and as a result  they may be  harvested at differing stages of ripeness
Irrigation water requirement is carried out in line with the  quantity of water which needs to be applied with the irrigation system at any given time and therefore  is adjusted accordingly.  

During the cultivation period  irrigation is carried out in line with the various requirement of each  farm. The  most  common and efficient  methods of watering plants is usually by Flood irrigation, Sprinklers or drip irrigation. During   the cultivation period  in order to ensure  optimum fruit development and yield. Both  hand  and mechanical cultivation of  rows is carried out. Open field  peppers grown outdoors  begin to reach muturity by the end of August  and  continue to ripen till  early September.  Since  harvesting  depends very much  on the amount of  ripened fruit that can be observed and as a result  can take place in stages allowing  fruit  to ripen properly before  havesting  continues. It all depends to a large degree on he amiount of ripened fruit  that  can be picked.

The  quality  is only partly  determined by  the ripeness  of  the fruit  but also to  a large degree by  the actual genetic makeup of the the different varieties grown  and  their  individual  characteristics. Thus quality also  has a a lot to do  with how   the  post  ripening  process is  carried out. and  the way that mature pods are post-ripened under natural  conditions.in  the  region of Szeged. This then leads  to the next stage namely  the   drying period in which  the produce is dried in a gentle manner as  they are placed in  drying  chambers where  they are gradually  dried. A number of   different  drying options  can be employed  (e.g) stringed garlands  where  peppers are hung in garlands on the side of  the house and left  to  dry naturally. 

Another  method that can  be used is storage in trawls  or  even  the  so called prismatic post-ripening  processThe  drying period under normal conditions  usually  lasts  about two  weeks. By the end of the drying  period the moisture  content  will have  reduced quite considerably. Whereas the pigment content will have increased by about 30-50%- but this to a large degree will depend largely on storage which  will have  played a crucial  part in all of this and can increase considerably depending on the storage methods adopted.

 The pigment  content of the of post-ripened paprika is higher and more stable, than in the case of ground  raw  paprika. The pigment content is one of  the most important traits in  powder and  in order for food safety requirments to be met the preparation of Paprika is crucial.  The folloswing steps are employed. Selection,washing and slicing and are all  crucial steps  in meeting  food safety  requirements. During selection any rotten bits and other contaminants are removed fully. The selection  process can be done by hand or using  machinary for this purpose. Washing of produce must be carried out prior to the drying process. Drying can take several different  forms.
One method is drying on conveyer belts. Having been washed  and sorted  they are now ready to be sliced and pre packed.

Drying in eaves ("Szütyős")
This  method  is suitable för small  amounts of  paprika, In this case  paprika is placed in sacks and the raw paprika is then exposed to natural  drying conditions and will muture over time. Can Take approximately  between 40-50  days.

Drying Chambers
This drying process is quite common. Paprika is  placed  in sacks  and then left  to dry,at 50-60 C. This can normally take  up to  7 days. Any remaining moisture is removed  by further  drying.

Drying on trays  
In this case peppers are sorted, washed and then placed on trays  to  dry. at 55-60 C.

Conveyer belt 
Drying in this way  is a very  common large scale practice.  The peppers  are  washed and sorted by hand  and then chopped  by machine.   In the first phase  100 c  air  is released  and  as  a result  water begins to evaporate, this in turn  leads to  the actual drying process at  72 C  for a period of maximum 5 hours. At the end of this procedure they are  kept in  ventilated  storage chambers  away from light, and moisture, in order to reduce microbilogical contamination, steaming  is  often  preferred at this  stage.

0nce  the paprika has  been dried and sliced, it is now ready for grinding. The dried Paprika is ground by passing through a tightly set of  Horizontal millstones. The significance of this process is that as the Paprika passes through the millstones and is exposed to consistent levels of heat it, subsequently releases the oils in the seeds and the fat soluble pigment in  the skin which in turn  coat the plant granules giving the Paprika its even colour. The phase of  grinding by millstones  is what is refered to as the conditioning process in which the moisture  content of the ground Paprika is increased by 1,5-3%. Through intense  mixing and  the addition of  portable grade water  conditioning  assumes an important role in developing the visual features of the paprika and ensures an optimal medium with a water content of  8-11 % for the bioactive components of the ground paprika  to exert their  protective  effect  on the natural pigments. At the end of the grinding process  the Paprika is sifted through  a sieve with a mesh aperture diameter of £0,5 mm.

Packaging Procedures

Packaging has to comply with food safety regulations  and  is based on good practice.